October

Each year a distinguished group of leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors is invited to become part of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs community. Throughout the year Senior Fellows present policy briefings, guest lecture in classes, and participate in School events.

September

As cities across California struggle with how to handle medical marijuana dispensaries and police agencies blame them for an increase in lawlessness, academics are delving into data to find out whether pot shops really do influence neighborhood crime.

The Department of Public Policy of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs seeks to recruit an economist at the assistant or associate professor level. We seek candidates in particular with interests in health economics (domestic and/or international, including, but not limited to, health disparities). We welcome applicants with expected doctorates as well as those who have already received their doctorates.

Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, is featured prominently in the October issue of Los Angeles Magazine. She is one of five area residents described as “five who make a difference,” because, “Their generosity is boundless and their belief in a better world unshakable.”

Seeking Spatial Justice, by Urban Planning Distinguished Professor Emeritus Edward Soja, has been awarded one of the three Honorable Mentions for the Paul Davidoff prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the academic planning field.

Dean Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., appeared on the Sept. 19 broadcast of CNN American Morning, commenting on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent remarks on the economy and civil unrest in England and other parts of the world.
Comments from the story:
“We have not yet had unrest…I think the one thing that has made America a little different is that people always had hope, and here in California, the so-called Golden State, we thought we always had hope and now people are feeling really quite hopeless, and that is dangerous.”

While hundreds of thousands of Somalis suffer from a drought-caused famine, most aid from agencies continues to be blocked by militants in that country. However, unlike the 1990s, international military intervention doesn’t work and does not have much support, according to experts.
A 2010 Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report by UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs MPP alumna Bronwyn Bruton is cited in the Sept. 15 New York Times, in which she is quoted.

Laura Pryor, a second-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, has been accepted into the Graduate Evaluation Diversity Internship (GEDI) program of the American Evaluation Association.

To local foundation leader Sushma Raman, the power of public policy to influence positive social change is no secret. Nor is the power of a dollar to multiply many times over in benefits to communities when invested in policy advocacy.